Men's Golf takes fourth at UAB

Wednesday, September 30

Birmingham, AL

Middle Tennessee

Graeme McDowell Invitational

9/30/2020 3:00:00 PM | Men's Golf

Barnard logs first career Top 10 finish

By: @MTAthletics

Final Results

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Middle Tennessee closed out a solid performance in the Graeme McDowell Invitational Wednesday with a final round of even par 288 to place fourth at 1-under par (291-284-288=863) for the week.

The Blue Raiders were just two strokes back of a third place finish at Greystone Golf and Country Club and had three golfers finish inside the Top 15 in the event.

"I'm really happy with the outcome this week," Head Coach Mark McEntire said. "We've been looking for consistency ever since I got here and to have four rounds of even par today is really solid."

Redshirt sophomore Michael Barnard claimed the top finish for MT in Birmingham, earning his first career Top 10 spot with a 2-under par (71-71-72=214) performance landing him in a tie for sixth place in the field of 69 golfers.

Barnard was impressive in all facets this week, posting the third best Par 3 (-1, 2.93) and Par 5 (-7, 4.53) scoring averages in the field while claiming the fourth most birdies.

Tanner Owens recovered from a shaky start to go 4-under in his final 10 holes of the day and just missed on his sixth career Top 10 finish, tying for 11^th at even par (75-67-74=216).

Graduate transfer Connor McKay was strong all tournament long, posting his second round of par or better on Wednesday to claim a share of 15^th place at 1-over par (71-74-72=217) while leading the entire field with 39 total pars in 54 holes.

"Mike played great all week and I'm really excited to see him have this strong of a performance," McEntire added. "Having three guys in the Top 15 is a good showing."

Cooper Sears and Gavin Clements both snuck into the Top 30 on the final day, posting 54-hole scorecards of 7-over par as Clements logged one of four Blue Raider rounds of even par on Wednesday.

Rookie Owen Stamper turned in a strong finish with an even par 72 on Wednesday making him the sixth raider to finish in the top half of the field, closing out the week at 8-over par (77-75-72=224) and in 34^th place.

Josh Morris (+15), Daniel Love (+16) and Palmer Sadlowski (+25) rounded out MT's scoring in Birmingham.

The Blue Raiders now have just one fall tournament remaining as they look ahead to their own Intercollegiate at The Grove on Oct. 12-13.

"Overall I'm really happy with the bounce back from the Honors Course and I'm looking forward to putting in some more work to get ready for our home event at The Grove," McEntire concluded.